I whipped this up as a start to writing in. Here’s some bullet points & data sources. I figured my jumbled mess of a brain should post it urgently so we can get to work. Take anything you want! SENATE is where it needs killed. Badly!!! Or Iowa’s forest will be killed badly!
Off the top of my head. Here’s some supporting links at bottom….
Forest Reserve Bullet points. The elimination of Forest Reserve CANNOT PASS the Senate!!!! We will lose far greater monetarily, for our citizens, environment & our kids than the small addition of tax revenue counties might get! One MAIN POINT is WHY IT WAS ENACTED!!…. Iowa’s forests were being dozed & removed at an alarming rate before Forest reserve was enacted. Erosion, loss of forest, water quality & environment were all heading off a cliff before Forest Reserve stabilized & increased the amount of forest acres left.
1) iowa is less than 8% timber & recent data has it trending towards 6% with our 2 recent commodity price spikes.
2) the hunting economy is a Billion dollar industry in iowa. Lack of access to quality land is #1 reason hunters are quitting. This will reduce forest acres in iowa & hunting opportunities. Continual reduction of hunting opportunities will mean less revenue in license sales & revenue to the Iowa DNR.
3) iowa is the most transformed state in the country. Our forests are fragile & cover the most vulnerable & erodible land
4) the forest reserve program was created to preserve the little timber Iowa has left.
5) iowas farmers have had a tax increase of 40-100% in the last 4 years. The county revenues have gone up dramatically. This tax increase would cripple many lower to middle class farmers & land owners.
6) our forests produce multiple million's of dollars per year of the finest timber in the world. The long term economic value of well managed timber is countless millions & millions in tax revenue to the state.
7) current forest reserve legislation prohibits an application for a reservation if more than 15% of the acres owned in the county by the applicant would qualify as a fruit tree or forest reservation.
8) Iowa’s water quality & erosion is an environmental crisis still needing assistance. Forested acres on our most vulnerable soils means better water quality & less erosion
9) our trees provide priceless benefits to citizens, wildlife, air & water. Iowa is lacking on outdoor activities due to such little forest.
10) forested acres are a majority of soils not to be sustainable or desired for farming.
11) 85% or forest reserve owners live within 25 miles of the land. 2.8% live out of state. This hurts residents & locals of the community that have had numerous tax increases in recent years.
12) this will fuel the sale of farms containing timber with those on a tight budget. It will encourage more out of state ownership where pockets run deeper.
13) this is a simple tax increase to those who have seen all their other costs go up substantially in the last 3 years. Commodities are down substantially at the same time. This will devastate our rural & low income counties the most.
14) counties have seen their revenues close to double or more, on average, the last 5 years.
15) the small amount of revenue % “gained” in the short term will be lost by far greater sums in economic & environmental value.
LINKS:
SEND MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS- LINK:
Off the top of my head. Here’s some supporting links at bottom….
Forest Reserve Bullet points. The elimination of Forest Reserve CANNOT PASS the Senate!!!! We will lose far greater monetarily, for our citizens, environment & our kids than the small addition of tax revenue counties might get! One MAIN POINT is WHY IT WAS ENACTED!!…. Iowa’s forests were being dozed & removed at an alarming rate before Forest reserve was enacted. Erosion, loss of forest, water quality & environment were all heading off a cliff before Forest Reserve stabilized & increased the amount of forest acres left.
1) iowa is less than 8% timber & recent data has it trending towards 6% with our 2 recent commodity price spikes.
2) the hunting economy is a Billion dollar industry in iowa. Lack of access to quality land is #1 reason hunters are quitting. This will reduce forest acres in iowa & hunting opportunities. Continual reduction of hunting opportunities will mean less revenue in license sales & revenue to the Iowa DNR.
3) iowa is the most transformed state in the country. Our forests are fragile & cover the most vulnerable & erodible land
4) the forest reserve program was created to preserve the little timber Iowa has left.
5) iowas farmers have had a tax increase of 40-100% in the last 4 years. The county revenues have gone up dramatically. This tax increase would cripple many lower to middle class farmers & land owners.
6) our forests produce multiple million's of dollars per year of the finest timber in the world. The long term economic value of well managed timber is countless millions & millions in tax revenue to the state.
7) current forest reserve legislation prohibits an application for a reservation if more than 15% of the acres owned in the county by the applicant would qualify as a fruit tree or forest reservation.
8) Iowa’s water quality & erosion is an environmental crisis still needing assistance. Forested acres on our most vulnerable soils means better water quality & less erosion
9) our trees provide priceless benefits to citizens, wildlife, air & water. Iowa is lacking on outdoor activities due to such little forest.
10) forested acres are a majority of soils not to be sustainable or desired for farming.
11) 85% or forest reserve owners live within 25 miles of the land. 2.8% live out of state. This hurts residents & locals of the community that have had numerous tax increases in recent years.
12) this will fuel the sale of farms containing timber with those on a tight budget. It will encourage more out of state ownership where pockets run deeper.
13) this is a simple tax increase to those who have seen all their other costs go up substantially in the last 3 years. Commodities are down substantially at the same time. This will devastate our rural & low income counties the most.
14) counties have seen their revenues close to double or more, on average, the last 5 years.
15) the small amount of revenue % “gained” in the short term will be lost by far greater sums in economic & environmental value.
LINKS:
SEND MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS- LINK:
